Jaguars DE Yannick Ngakoue deserves some damn respect for the way he mistreats quarterbacks

I would imagine that if you asked most non-Jaguars fans to name Jacksonville’s defensive ends, most would mention Dante Fowler before they would Yannick Ngakoue. And some of them probably wouldn’t mention Ngakoue at all.

That isn’t entirely surprising since Fowler was Jacksonville’s first-round pick just a few years back. Then there’s also the fact that Fowler has had a few run-ins with the law, which have also kept his name in the news. And also, the Jags have been bad for quite some time, and most people don’t keep up with personnel on shitty teams.

However, while it may not be surprising that some NFL fans likely don’t even know Ngakoue’s name, at this point it’s damn-near disrespectful.

When we talk about the top young pass rushers in the league, it’s certainly fine to point out guys like Vic Beasley and Joey Bosa, but Ngakoue should be in that conversation as well. As a third-round pick there is no doubt that Ngakoue was a steal in the 2016 draft. All he has done since coming into the league is go about the business of kicking ass and getting sacks.

And business, ladies and gentlemen, is good!

Just ask the Cleveland Browns.

On Sunday, Jacksonville’s defensive line was once again a sight to behold in the course of getting after Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer, and this time it was Ngakoue leading the charge. In a very close contest, his performance had a huge impact on the outcome of the game and helped secure the seventh victory of the season for the Jags.

Ngakoue got going early and made a couple of tackles on the Browns’ first drive of the game.

Kizer then proceeded to throw an interception on to Jags linebacker Telvin Smith on the first play of Cleveland’s second drive of the game. Then came the Browns’ third drive.

With 5:51 left in the first quarter, the Browns were facing third-and-3 from their own 32-yard line. Ngakoue lined up in a tilted, wide five technique with Calais Campbell inside of him as the nose tackle in the A gap. On the snap, Ngakoue came off the ball hard for about a step, then did a hesitation move like you might see a basketball player use before he crosses someone’s ankles off. Browns left tackle Spencer Drango accurately assumed that Ngakoue was trying to set him up for a cross-chop-to-a-rip move, so Drango tried to get cute and punch only his inside (right) hand while holding his outside (left) arm back so Ngakoue couldn’t chop it down.

But, while keeping his left arm back did lead to Ngakoue missing his chop attempt, punching with only his inside hand also had the unintended effect of turning Drango’s shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. Drango “opened the gate” so to speak, which gifted Ngakoue a shorter corner to turn to get to the quarterback. Ngakoue took full advantage of Drango’s misstep and hit the afterburners with Kizer in his sights. He managed to reach out with his right hand and pop the ball out just as Kizer was trying to attempt a pass. The ball was subsequently recovered by Kizer, but for a 10-yard loss that necessitated a punt on the next play.

Then later on in the second quarter, Ngakoue and Campbell showed once again why teamwork makes the dream work on Jacksonville’s defensive line. The Browns were facing a third-and-10 at their own 40-yard line.

Campbell was lined up as the three technique, on the outside shoulder of Cleveland left guard Joel Bitonio, while Ngakoue was once again lined up in a wide five across from Drango.

Ngakoue came off the ball going upfield like he was going to try a speed rush. The Browns sent Duke Johnson to chip on Ngakoue’s outside shoulder this time to help Drango, but even though Ngakoue obviously saw Johnson coming, he continued on the same track. Just as it appeared they were going to hit each other, Ngakoue stopped abruptly and looped inside.

See, in reality Ngakoue never had any intention of trying an edge rush. Instead, he was setting Drango’s ass up for a TEX game the whole time.

While Ngakoue was doing a great job selling a speed rush, Campbell was doing some acting of his own. Campbell initially went right at Bitonio as if he was going to bull rush him, but at the last minute Campbell shot a rip move under Bitonio’s outside arm and changed course to go right at Drango’s inside shoulder. Campbell blasted Drango and knocked him wide. Bitonio was still locked on trying to block Campbell’s rip move, so Bitonio never even saw Ngakoue looping inside to the A gap until it was already too late.

Kizer saw Ngakoue, though, and tried to get away by scrambling to his left with Campbell still double teamed by Drango and Bitonio.

Ngakoue would not be so easily deterred.

He made a hard right turn and was on Kizer before Kizer could set his feet and throw the football downfield. Ngakoue made contact with Kizer just as he released the ball and the ensuing, off-balance throw was also, predictably, off-target.

Once again, Ngakoue had helped to force the Browns into punting on fourth down. Third-down sacks and pressures are always big time plays, but especially in a game that was within one score almost all the way down to the wire.

Speaking of “down to the wire,” that’s when Ngakoue did his best work on Sunday.

The Jaguars were nursing a six-point lead with 1:48 left in the game, but their defense had improbably allowed the Browns to move the ball from Cleveland’s 22 all the way down to Jacksonville’s 40-yard line. After incomplete passes on first and second down, the Browns were looking at a third-and-10. They still had plenty of time to score if they could just make a first down right there. The Browns may have even elected to try to go for it on fourth down if they didn’t make it on third down at that point in the game.

Now, anybody who has watched the Browns on film will tell you they have talent on both sides of the ball. They are inconsistent and make really dumb mistakes at crucial times, but they do have the kind of guys on offense who can make your odd big play.

Johnson, who caught the 21-yard pass that got the Browns to the Jags’ 40-yard line in the first place, is a legit home-run threat out of the backfield from almost anywhere on the field. It was also Corey Coleman’s first game back from a Week 2 wrist injury, and the former first rounder, who ended up being the Browns’ leading receiver on the day, has speed to burn. Rookie tight end David Njoku is a big, strong guy who can get up the field in a hurry and jump up over people to make catches. Kizer, for all of the bad decisions he has made this season — and there have been many — has also made some absolutely beautiful throws.

Watching the game live, right before this third-down play, I thought to myself, “the Browns are going to fluke themselves into their first win of this season, aren’t they?”

Apparently, I had Ngakoue and nem all the way fucked up.

The Jaguars decided to blitz Smith, who was walked up on the line, off the left edge. Fowler was in the game and lined up as the left defensive end in a five technique inside of Smith. Malik Jackson was lined up as the left three technique, and on the snap of the football he and Fowler ran a quick TEX game.

Ngakoue and Campbell were lined up on the right side as the wide five technique and the three technique, respectively. They just had straight rushes with Myles Jack lined up on the line, in the A gap inside of them.

Of course Cleveland went Cleveland and didn’t even try to block Smith, which forced Kizer to try to scramble to his left almost immediately. Unfortunately for Kizer, Ngakoue wisely decided to stop at the level of the quarterback, which put him in perfect position to take Kizer down.

The quarterback was between the proverbial rock (Smith) and a hard place (Ngakoue). To make matters worse, as Ngakoue and Smith were crunching him from both sides, Campbell came off the top rope to finish Kizer off up high. The ball came out of Kizer’s hand as he was bullied to the ground. Fowler, who had made his way over to the carnage, clearly recovered it on the way to what should have been a defensive touchdown that would have put the game out of reach.

I say “should” because the refs ended up blowing the play dead for no damn reason at all, stopping the play before Fowler could get in the end zone.

Replay correctly awarded the ball to the Jaguars, but, without the touchdown, Jacksonville was still up just six points and the Browns had all three of their timeouts. With the Jaguars playing things conservatively, that meant Cleveland would probably get at least one more shot to score a touchdown and win the game.

Or, as it turns out, at least one more play.

Only 24 seconds came off the clock before the Browns got the ball back again. Starting from their 20-yard line, they had 1:24 to go 80 yards to pay dirt.

Rather than unnecessarily stretch out the drama like a DC superhero movie, Ngakoue decided to go ahead and put the Browns out of their misery early.

This time there was no hesitation as he came off the ball. Drango tried to punch, but Ngakoue was up the field so fast that Drango was barely able to change his course. Drango had to bail out so hard to try to keep up with Ngakoue that he once again opened the gate and gave Ngakoue another short corner. With Kizer dropping back 10 yards, that practically gave Ngakoue a straight line to the quarterback.

Ngakoue swooped in, relieved Kizer of the ball, and effectively ended the game. Smith would eventually fall on that fumble in the end zone for a touchdown that finally put the game out of reach for Cleveland. It wasn’t quite a walk-off sack and caused fumble, but it was damned close.

So far in his career, Ngakoue has started all but his first game in the NFL. In those 25 starts he has already amassed 17 sacks. That is, eight sacks as a rookie last season and nine sacks through 10 games this season. Those nine sacks are good for sixth in the league, ahead of guys like Melvin Ingram, Jadeveon Clowney and Von Miller. Of course, sacks are not the only barometer for good defensive linemen, but, let me tell you buddy, they are always good to have. Ngakoue is also leading the league in forced fumbles with five.

Ngakoue has shown himself to be an elite pass rusher, and it’s about damn time we all put some respeck on his name! With his two and a half sacks, two forced fumbles, two other tackles, and a pressure on Sunday, I couldn’t help but do just that and name Yannick Ngakoue as my Hoss of the Week for Week 11.